Alice Waters’ own Obama Drama

Alice Waters may have just skirted her own culinary version of the recent Obama Drama. Hers didn’t revolve around race, but something close to her heart: sustainability (and protecting God’s creatures).

It all started in May when Waters appeared in Hartford, Connecticut, in a “Food for Thought” forum with Anthony Bourdain. During a question and answer session at the end of the panel, a member of the audience asked: “What would be your last meal?”

On Friday, the Humane Society International issued a press release declaring Waters has signed the society’s “No Shark Fin” pledge, “committing never to consume or serve shark fin soup or any product containing shark fin.”

The release goes on to quote Waters: “Not long ago I learned that every year tens of millions of sharks, their fins brutally sliced off, are thrown back into the ocean to die and that many shark species are now seriously threatened.”

So without reference to her previous statements, she offered her Mea Culpa. Now can we just get back to talking about those adorable little vegetables?